I test drove Splendor+, Glamour, CB Twister, E5 Sport, Hayate and Slingshot. I am not a Bajaj fan, so, skipped their products. I am 38 years old, short and stout, with a lovely family living in Chennai. so, I am all about value for money.
After test driving all these bikes, I zeroed in on the Twister for a comfortable ride. I also liked the Hayate, but, since there are just a few Suzuki Dealerships in Chennai, I was not sure whether I wanted to take a chance with the dealers. didn’t want to pay up in full and wait endlessly for the bike.
I own a Zen Estilo 2009 model. I just moved to chennai a couple of months back from Bangalore and I badly needed a bike for Chennai Traffic. By the way, I was born and brought up in Chennai, but, have been out of chennai for a decade or so now. I wanted to use the car for taking my wife and kid out. The bike is only a way of commuting for me between home and office.
My main requirements were:
Decent Mileage.
Good Handling and Riding Comfort up to 50 kmph.
Good Engine
Daily commute of 22 kms for a round trip between home and office
Bike should not feel heavy while navigating @ slow speeds. This way, I won’t get back and
forearm pain. So it had to be between 100 and 110 cc
So, on July 6th, paid Honda Adyar, Chennai in full for a Self Start + Drum Brake variant, costing 59000 Rs. Took delivery on 10th July 2012.
I have only driven 200 kms so far. But, I am happy with the bike. I am getting a mileage of 55 kmpl, with around 30% of driving in peak traffic (6 pm, Nungambakkam High Road) and around 70% of driving in lean traffic (flowing traffic @30-40 kmph). So, not bad. Comes to around 1.40 Rs per km approx, compared to around 6 Rs per km in my car.
So here is my experience:
- Bike is smooth upto 45 kmph and gear shifts are easy. I am not sure about smoothness
beyond 45 kmph as I haven’t been there.
Brakes are good enough if you don’t drive rash. I do not believe in Sudden Brakes.
Good handling even @ slow speeds. Bike doesn’t feel heavy, so, comfortable too.
Bike doesn’t feel sluggish @ slow speeds in higher gears. Minimum speed for smooth riding in
4th gear is 20 kmph. for 3rd gear, 15 kmph. So, even if you slow down from 40 to 20 kmph, you
don’t have to change to 3rd gear.
- Decent mileage. I need to correct the way I use the accelerator while changing gears. Once I
get that sorted, I should be getting better mileage. Further, 30% of my driving is during peak
traffic, which means that I am in 1st gear in bumper to bumper traffic for around 20-30 mins and
this kills mileage. for example, my zen estilo gives around 17 kmpl in free flowing traffic. in this
traffic, it dropped down to 12 kmpl. so, expect around 30% reduction in mileage in just 30% of
peak traffic drive
- My only con - I can feel the heat coming out of the engine if you drive continuously for 1 hour or
more. This is probably the same in any other 110cc bike . I don’t know.
I am still around 550 kms away from my 1st service. I will keep you all posted over a period of time as to what my experience is. If you feel I have left out anything that you would like to know, please reply back and I will put that also in the review